Physicists Can Now Manipulate Electrons

Physicists have found a way to control the motion of individual electrons using the peaks of energy waves, which electrons can ride on like surfers. The National Physical Laboratory’s electron surf machine sends a steady stream of over a billion electrons per second in single file. It involves oscillating waves of electrostatic force, which is the force of attraction between positive and negative charges.

Although we can already produce small streams of electrons, until today nobody has developed a method of delivering electrons at such a high rate in a controlled manner. Motivated by better computing and better security of digital communication, scientists are now able to manipulate billions of individual electrons per second.

"Digital communication relies on the break up of a signal into small pieces, which are transported through wired or wireless communication networks and then pieced together at the recipient's end. Anyone wishing to eavesdrop needs to remove part of the message in transit to see or hear the information. The new electron surf machine could be used to encode the message into individual tiny light pulses (photons), making it much simpler to identify any which have been 'removed' by eavesdroppers, deterring snooping and alerting the sender or recipient that tampering has taken place."

In addition, all contemporary computer systems rely on a stream of electricity that runs through microprocessors to give it power. At the very moment, thousands of electrons move in and out of your processor in a chaotic fashion. These random movements generate heat - an overclocker/gamer’s worst nightmare - and thus limits the computer's efficiency. However, if we can control individual electrons, exactly the right amount of electrical current can be aimed at the CPU at exactly the right moment. This will allow the computer to handle more tasks and run more efficiently.